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CHAP. 41.—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH IRRIGATION.

In the Fabian district, which belongs to the territory of Sulmo1 in Italy, where they are in the habit, also, of irrigating the fields, the natural harshness of the wines makes it necessary to water the vineyards; it is a very singular thing, too, that the water there kills all the weeds, while at the same time it nourishes the corn, thus acting in place of the weeding- hook. In the same district, too, at the winter solstice, and more particularly when the snow is on the ground or frosts prevail, they irrigate the land, a process which they call "warming" the soil. This peculiarity, however, exists in the water of one river2 only, the cold of which in summer is almost insupportable.

1 This was the native place of Ovid, who alludes to its cold streams, Tristia, B. iv. El. x. 11. 3, 4:— "Sulmo mihi patria est, gelidis uberrimus undis,
Millia qui novies distat ab urbe decem."
Irrigation of the vine is still practised in the east, in Italy, and in Spain; but it does not tend to improve the quality of the wine.

2 The Sagrus, now the Sangro.

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